Jason Victor Serinus

This photo of the vast Munich venue, taken near closing time on the last day of the 2025 audio show, wraps up Stereophile's coverage.

Despite the impact of the Trump tariffs, Munich attendance figures were again impressive. With 323,000 square feet of exhibition space—that's seven and a half acres!—High End Munich '25 welcomed 10,562 trade visitors from 87 countries; 11,675 consumer attendees from 63 countries; and 581 media representatives from 43 countries. While the Munich event may not be audio's most popular—depending on how you count attendees, the Hong Kong, Warsaw, and AXPONA shows may attract more unique visitors—it is unquestionably the meeting place for consumers and distributors.

Twelve years after VTL released its Siegfried Reference monoblock, the California‑based company is poised to launch its little brother, the Lohengrin Reference monoblock ($100,000/pair). Smaller though it may be, with fewer tubes and less power, VTL says that Lohengrin amounts to "a new benchmark for musicality and realism."

Ken says: At High End Munich, IsoAcoustics introduced its new GAIA Neo and GAIA-TITAN Neo series of isolation feet. Designed for both consumer and OEM use, the Neo models improve on the established GAIA line with updated engineering. The first custom versions will be integrated into the new JBL Summit Makalu, Summit Pumori, and Summit Ama speakers, as well as the Marten Coltrane Extreme loudspeakers—all of which debuted at the show.